lying on a fake beach, you'll never get a tan
by braille upon my skin
Summary: "That's just it." Gabriella is choked up, just like she was during their callback audition, her eyes wide and shining lower lip shaking. "It's not a guy."


**A/N:** I'm not entirely sure where this came from. I think the concept of decently written and, most importantly, _in-character_ Gabriella/Sharpay is interesting. The girls have a lot more in common than their surface archetypes and appearances would imply, and I'd like to see the "sort of friendship" the ending of each film in the original trilogy hinted at, further explored.

So, I took a crack at writing what I hope is an in-character take on Troy reacting to Gabriella's interest in Sharpay. Because, he wouldn't be "the bad guy" in this scenario. He just wouldn't.

As always, I have absolutely no ownership or copyright claims on any recognizable properties.

The title was taken from Marina and the Diamonds's "Radioactive".

* * *

 _ **lying on a fake beach, you'll never get a tan**_

.x.

It's two weeks into summer vacation. Troy is dropping Gabriella off at her dorm room after a dinner date, and praying that the engine of his truck won't give out, when Gabriella says, "Troy, I don't think this is going to work."

Troy feels his stomach drop, practically out of him, and he's sure it's showing on his face. "How come?" He asks, bewildered. His chest is already tightening with desperation. "Is it something I did? I'll fix it," he insists. "Whatever it is, I'll-"

Gabriella cuts him off with a shake of her head. "For once, no." She unleashes a sigh. "It's not you. It's me."

It's the most cliche line in the book. One Troy never thought, and hoped he would never, be on the receiving end of. And, funnily enough, the shifting of blame to the speaker somehow does nothing to lessen the sting the words have on the addressee. Especially after the speaker told him she loved him.

Just not enough to follow through on their plan and fly in to see him.

But, observing the melancholy clouding Gabriella's liquid brown eyes, Troy knows that he can't let himself wallow in his own feelings.

"What's wrong?" He asks softly. He turns the key in the ignition, powering the engine off. He can't afford to waste any more of his battery's precious juice.

"My mom is Catholic," Gabriella says. "I used to sing in the choir at our church." Her pitch rises and cracks, giving way to a panicky, erratic inflection. "I'm not supposed to-"

"Hey, hey." Troy reaches out and grabs Gabriella's hand, running his thumb over her knuckles. Just because they're breaking up, or whatever is happening here, it doesn't mean he has to turn cold and apathetic.

Like she-

He forces that thought out. There's no room for it, now.

"What is it? You can tell me," he assures her, ducking his head to peer into her eyes.

That was what their relationship was supposed to be about; knowing they could tell each other anything.

Slowly, Gabriella admits, "I have feelings for someone else."

Troy's immediate thought, and he hates himself for it, is that this isn't a surprise. He could feel her drifting away during the two weeks she spent at Stanford. Phone calls were no substitution for having someone actually, physically there in person, and he was never any real competition for the geniuses at the university.

His second thought is a heart-lurching, stomach-clenching, _You, too?_

"I hope he knows he's a lucky guy. One of the luckiest guys in the whole world," Troy tells her, smiling despite the dull ache in his chest.

"That's just it." Gabriella is choked up, just like she was during their callback audition, her eyes wide and shining lower lip shaking. "It's _not_ a guy."

This news comes as a surprise, a soft pang firing off somewhere between Troy's chest and stomach. But, Troy isn't indignant, or even annoyed.

He wants to tell Gabriella that he's been grappling with similar feelings, that he and Ryan are a lot closer than "just friends", that he almost kissed Ryan during rehearsals for the East High spring musical and wonders if he might be at least bisexual. Maybe even make a joke about how they really have defied the status quo.

But, this isn't about him and his… confusion.

Gabriella is more torn up over her patent identity crisis than Troy could ever dream of being.

So, Troy squeezes her hand.

She doesn't yank her appendage away and regard him with an icy stare. Instead, she leans into his shoulder, and he feels every shallow, rapid breath she draws.

"Liking someone who has the same parts as you isn't a bad thing," Troy starts softly.

Gabriella lets out a humorless laugh. "It is when that person is Sharpay Evans."

Troy's stomach pitches at the name, alone. He has to gulp down uncomfortable memories of Sharpay's hands on his arms, his shirt, his chest, her sickeningly sweet vanilla-scented hair smacking him in the face. Blood-boiling recollections of Sharpay pushing Ryan around, intimidating Kelsi, mistreating the Wildcats during the first month of their employment at Lava Springs…

"You don't have to say it," Gabriella interjects, halting Troy's train of thought in its tracks. "I can already feel you judging me."

"When did this happen?" Troy asks, and it's more of a challenge to keep his disconcertion from seeping into his voice.

"It's not like I had any choice. She just… " Gabriella pauses to consider her phrasing. "She makes me _so angry_ , sometimes. But…" Her girlish voice adopts a dreamy intonation, and Troy doesn't have to look at her to know she's smiling that soft, inviting smile that first drew him to her that night at the New Year's Eve party.

His heart is already cracking down the middle with the sensation of loss.

"At the same time, I get butterflies around her in… ways I haven't with you for a while, now."

Troy wants to hope he isn't imagining the tinge of disappointment coloring Gabriella's words. He shoves his feelings aside, however, and gives her a light nudge. "You should at least talk to her. The worst she can say is that she doesn't feel the same way, right?"

Gabriella lifts her head and arcs an eyebrow at him quizzically. It's a look that he's all too familiar with. "How are you so okay with this?"

"I want you to do whatever makes you happy," Troy answers seriously, honestly. "And… " He runs his free hand through his hair as his heart misses a beat, and braces himself for scorn and disapproval. "Let's just say you're not the only one who discovered they have feelings for an Evans."

Gabriella's lips form a sort of smile; the kind where the angle of her eyebrows and the not even remotely surprised look in her eyes are much more in the vein of a glare. The kind of "smile" that always gives Troy a queasy, unsettled feeling. "And, when were you planning on sharing that with me?"

"I sort of hoped it would never come up," Troy confesses, feeling sufficiently admonished for his emotional infidelity.

Gabriella digs her elbow into his ribs, though there's no real force behind it. "You are _ridiculous_ ," she chastises him. Her tone is just playful enough for her words to not slice into him like carving knives.

Troy dares to interpret this as a sign that Gabriella isn't furious with him. Cheating has been a high tension issue in their relationship since the previous summer.

Now, here they are- both of them admitting they have more than a passing romantic interest in the opposite Evans twin from the one they were convinced the other was having an affair with.

It really is humorous. If Troy didn't feel so thoroughly wiped out, he might muster up the energy to crack a smirk at the genuine hilarity of this elseworld scenario that, somehow, has become their reality.

Silence settles between him and Gabriella and Troy slumps under the weight of it, leaning back against the seat. He deliberates how he's going to go about breaking this news to everyone, if it's even _worth_ telling them.

Part of him wants to call Ryan up and ask him if he can drop by the Evans place and take a dip in the pool, perhaps manage to coax Ryan into joining him.

Another part wants to hibernate in his bedroom and blast the whiney "emo" music that Chad mocks him mercilessly for listening to.

Wow. He really _is_ a confused mess. He can't even decide if he wants to mourn the apparent ending of his first relationship, or dive right into a second relationship that he never even would have considered a _possibility_ two school years ago.

"My mom is going to have a cow," Gabriella mutters, to either herself, or to him. Troy isn't sure which one.

"I'm sure she'll love you no matter who you bring home to meet her." Troy touches her shoulder with his. "Regardless of what the man upstairs thinks, you're still her daughter, and you've done so much to make her proud of you. Taming Sharpay Evans would be just another accomplishment to check off the list."

This time, Gabriella actually _smiles_ at him. "I can't say I'm thrilled about you and Ryan, but…" She seems to struggle to get the words out, like they're a piece of exceptionally bitter-tasting candy that she's trying to dislodge from her windpipe. "Thank you."

It's the only time she's ever thanked him, and Troy ponders if he's allowed to be dismayed, or even bitter that it's under _these_ circumstances that he's finally won Gabriella's gratitude.

"Good luck, okay?" He tells her, eyes flickering over her face to soak in her familiar features- soft hair that falls to her chest in shimmering dark curls, smooth olive skin, rosy cheeks, button nose, enticing chocolate brown eyes he could get lost in for hours- as her boyfriend, for the last time.

"Yeah." There's a click as Gabriella unbuttons her seatbelt, and Troy gets a last whiff of her perfume- tropical fruit-scented- as she vacates the vehicle before he can get out of his seat and hurry to her side to let her out.

She gives him a look over her shoulder, her expression unreadable, then turns to enter the student residence on Stanford's campus.

Troy waits until Gabriella is safely in the building before emitting a deep, heavy sigh that seems to reach the soles of his shoes. His chest leadened down and heart throbbing faintly, he raps his fingers on the steering wheel, fixes his hair in the dashboard mirror, and considers stopping for a coffee to keep himself awake for the ungodly long drive home, even though he can't stand the taste of it.

The sound of his phone going off yanks him out of his thoughts. Ryan's name, number, and photo light up the screen of the device, and Troy's heart skips and pulses against his breastbone.

What timing.

"Hey, Ryan," he greets the male Evans twin.

"Hey," Ryan replies, sheepish. Troy can picture him pacing about his spacious lavender bedroom, shy smile lighting up his lovely face. "I'm glad I caught you. I was worried I'd called at a bad time."

"Not at all," Troy assures him. He turns the key and just about liquefies with relief when the engine of his pickup roars to life, purring robustly. "What's up?"

"Sharpay and the parental units wanted to do some traveling before they packed up for their stay at the country club."

"Oh yeah? Where to?"

"They mentioned Vegas and L.A. I'd normally be down, but I don't think I can handle more than sixteen hours on a plane with Sharpay, especially when she's prone to slapping me in the face while she sleeps."

Troy breaks into a wince, and just _narrowly_ avoids rear-ending some douchebag who pulls out behind him and lets loose a string of obscenities over the screeching of his tires.

He's torn between apologizing and flipping the guy off, when a realization sinks in. "So, you're sitting this one out?"

"Yeah."

"You, uh… " Troy's cheeks are already heating up, his stomach fizzing and heart pounding. "Wouldn't want some company while they're gone, would you?"

"That-That's actually why I called," Ryan chimes in quickly. Excitedly. It's adorable. "I mean, if you want to," he tacks on, and Troy envisions him trailing his foot in a circle on the floor.

"Great." Troy is beaming like an idiot, but at least he's out on the road, and less likely to collide with another preoccupied driver.

"Great," Ryan echoes. "Wonderful!"

Troy can hear the smile in his words, and realizes that Gabriella was right. They _were_ lacking in _that_ , and he forgot just how amazing it feels when it's truly present. "Wonderful," Troy repeats.

He could swear his heart is soaring.

.x.

Sometime later, Troy will text Gabriella to give her a heads up about Sharpay being in her vicinity for an indeterminate amount of time.

But, as he's sitting on the steps leading into the pool in the Evanses' backyard, nose filled with the scents of chlorine and the sunblock coating Ryan's glistening white skin while Ryan brushes his damp hair away from his face and leans in until Troy can smell Ryan's shampoo and feel Ryan's breath on his skin, Troy's heart is light and thrumming for the first time in weeks.

He decides that, for once, Gabriella can wait.

.x.

As he and Ryan are sprawled out on Ryan's king-size bed, that evening, skin warm from exposure to the intense New Mexican summer sun, and fighting off exhaustion after dinner and dessert, and hours of talking, and laughing, and shouting at the screen when their characters in _Soul Caliber_ ate it, Troy's phone buzzes with a text from Gabriella.

 **you'll never guess who i ran into at Madame Tussaud's wax museum ! :) :) :)**

Half-smile tugging at his lips, Troy snuggles closer to Ryan, who looks up from the book he's engrossed in to give him a warm, inviting smile. He presses a kiss to Ryan's clothed shoulder and muses to himself that having Gabriella as his sort of in-law, years down the road, rather than his wife, would be _weird_. But, not "end of the world" horrible.

Just like the dissolving of their relationship.


End file.
